Posted: Wed, March 12th 2008 10:56pm Post subject: (Very) Short Story - Children

Children

Code:

As the sun rises over the horizon on a backwater planet far from Earth, light glints off of a remnant of a massive war machine, quietly hidden in an unexplored wooded glen – the centuries-old remains of a violent period in humanity’s ever-enduring cycle of natural selection. The two-legged behemoth lay on its back, partially exposed in the dirt, with its massive gun barrels forever aiming towards the eternity of space. Itself just but one of thousands of different relics that lie on thousands of different worlds from the thousands of wars waged by humanity. Hidden from civilization, the automated atrocity was left to decay.

One unparticular day in the history of this undeveloped planet, a group of children, gaily running and playing, stumble upon the automaton. Startled for only a moment, the flock quickly resumes their game; continuing to trip and skip across the titanium hull, scratch its paint, and splash in stagnant pools of water collected in the massive cannon barrels. They cause a terrible mess, disrespecting a machine of war leagues beyond their limited comprehension. The vivaciousness of the children eventually causes a previously-severed wire, hidden deep inside of the machine’s inner workings, to reconnect. Dormant information and electricity flow where nothing but dust had occupied in a millennium.

The machine, reduced to dust by time, is still vigorous within wire and circuit. As energy flows, the automaton’s internal sensors activate. The tiniest of mechanical eyes light up, unbeknownst to the joyful children, perfect and seemingly emotionless. Aged but still working, the previously-quiescent artificial intelligence observes the children, regarding their flippant attitude to its world-shattering strength…
…and passes away, permanently, content that the dream behind the blood had come true.

The machine stilled, the circuits stopped flowing, now forever.

I think it turned out great, and I think I'm going to expand on the theme, using this as an expository for a larger story.